To adapt Edwin Starr’s protest song: “Awards — what are they good for?
Absolutely nothing.”

At least that’s what players at the defensive end of the pitch must think,
given that they are routinely ignored when individual prizes are handed out.

Among the 178 recipients of the Premier League Player of the Month award —
including a few joint winners — there have been seven strikers for every
defender (84 to 12), even though teams generally field four defenders and
only one or two strikers.

Of the remaining winners, seven have been goalkeepers and 75 midfielders, but
a breakdown of the latter players